Manager of Barah Poultry Farms at Adzikpo, a suburb of Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of the Eastern region, Mr. Philip Appiah has expressed the readiness of the local poultry industry to supply any quantity of poultry products to individuals and groups during the upcoming Christmas festivities.
Speaking in an interview with Captain Adabugar during the Akuafo Sesen segment of the morning show on Monday, Mr. Appiah said poultry farmers in the country were capable of meeting the demand of the consuming public before, during and after the yuletide.
“Local poultry farmers are ready to supply enough poultry products to individuals and groups during the impending Christmas revels. We are also capable of meeting the demand of the consuming public before, during and after the occasion,” he told host Captain Adabugar.
The manager who also appreciated the high sales of poultry during the x’mas period however hoped that this would be maintained, especially as all other commodities also experience high sales during the festivities.
“Usually, sales go higher during Christmas and Easter festivities and our expectations is that the consuming populace patronize our produce because even though we make a lot of sales, prices of other commodities such as rice, beans, maize, cooking oil, milk and other commodities go high which sometimes affect the patronage,” he added.
Mr. Appiah in hoping for a good business for poultry farmers however bemoaned the risks associated with poultry rearing, especially as far as diseases are concerned.
“Poultry farming is a very risky business because sometimes, diseases such as bird flu affect the birds, leading to the default in the payment of loans taken from financial institutions,” he lamented.
The utmost challenge the manager added, is the influx of frozen chicken which invariably takes a toll on the revenue generated by the local farmers.
“Aside the diseases that pose a huge challenge for us, we also face problems with the market. This is due to the importation of the frozen chicken into the country which has seriously affected our businesses over the years,” he added.
Mr. Appiah also mentioned the lack of easy access to credit facilities as another difficulty confronting them.
During festive occasions such as Christmas (especially), Easter, Muslim and Traditional festivals, demand for broilers, spent hens and poultry products are high and far exceed supply as consumers develop special preference for local poultry and poultry products particularly live broilers and eggs.
However, as soon as the festive periods were over, demand for such products particularly broilers, decline and as a result of that most farmers tend to concentrate on table egg production than broiler production.
Most farmers argue that it is more economically sustainable to produce table eggs to maintain a regular income than raising broilers whose patrons seldom pay cash thus indirectly compelling the poultry farmers to pre-finance the patron’s businesses, hence the shift to table egg production.
It is also observed that local broiler production in Ghana, which is under 10 per cent of the total local demand for chicken meat, is done mostly to satisfy demand during such festivities.
Source: Prince Paul Amuzu/ritefmonline.org/princeamuzu667@gmail.com
